Female Trouble

Dreamland/New Line. Director John Waters; Producer John Waters; Screenplay John Waters; Camera John Waters; Editor Charles Roggero

Divine
David Lochary
Mary Vivian Pearce
Mink Stole
Edith Massey
Cookie Mueller

Female Trouble is the sordid tale of Dawn Davenport, who rises from high school hoyden to mistress of crime before frying in the electric chair. As she climbs the ladder of success, she is raped by a stranger, gives birth to an obnoxious child who later murders the father, marries a beautician whose mother she imprisons in a bird cage before cutting off her hand and opens a niteclub act during which she guns down members of the audience. A true original.

Repeating from Pink Flamingos in the stellar role is Divine, a mammoth 300-pound transvestite with a tinsel soul. Though Divine doesn't stoop to devouring dog excrement as at the Flamingos fade-out, he does everything else, from cavorting on a trampoline, to playing a rape scene opposite himself, and 'giving birth' on camera. Camp is too elegant a word to describe it all.

Sets, lighting, camerawork, editing and sound are all superior to their Flamingos counterparts and Waters makes the most of a reported $25,000 budget.

(Color) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1975. Running time: 95 MIN.

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